Modern vehicles are increasingly often equipped e.g. with so-called seat occupancy sensors which, in case of an accident, prevent the release of an airbag attributed to a certain vehicle seat if the corresponding vehicle seat is not occupied. Such seat occupancy sensors frequently comprise a sensor mat with a plurality of pressure-sensitive regions which are interconnected by flexible connection strips. The sensor mat is integrated into the vehicle seat such that the pressure-sensitive regions are distributed across the seat squab of the vehicle seat.
The increased consumer's demands on comfortableness moreover result in an increasing number of vehicle seats being equipped with a seat heater. Such a seat heater in general comprises a heating mat of a heat conductor embedded in two bonded fabrics layers. Such a heating mat, too, is integrated into the seat squab of the vehicle seat, such that the heat conductor essentially extends over the whole seat squab of the vehicle seat.
In case of vehicle seats equipped with a seat occupancy sensor as well as with a seat heater, the sensor mat and the heating mat are joined before they are installed in the seat to form a combined sensor and heating element. The manufacture of such a combined sensor and heating element, however, is relatively time consuming and expensive as the two function elements first have to be manufactured separately and then have to be fixed to one another.